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Plans are underway for Building 10, a new, three-story, 60,000-square-foot facility on Valencia’s West Campus on Kirkman Road.

SchenkelShultz Architecture and McCree, an Orlando-based design/build team, was awarded the $13 million construction contract in June. The project is currently under design, with construction slated to begin in January 2012 and be completed by December 2012.

The new building will become home to Valencia’s Continuing Education division, which is currently based out of a rented space on Sand Lake Road. By ending its lease on the 30,000-square-foot Sand Lake Center, the college will be able to save about $70,000 annually.

In addition to Continuing Education services, Building 10 will house the Global Language Institute, technology support services and institutional research, as well as a model shop for the architecture program and some additional classroom space.

With a credit student body of 41,178 (up 7 percent from last year), Valencia continues to grow. The college has two other building projects currently underway. Construction is in progress for the first building of the new Lake Nona Campus in southeast Orange County and the Osceola Campus is scheduled to break ground on a new building in September.

Student Support Services

The Answer Center

Even before you become a Valencia student, the Answer Center is there for you. It should be your first stop for questions about admissions, residency and financial aid. The Answer Center has locations on every Valencia campus and provides help on a walk-in basis.

Student Success Course

This course is a great elective for new students looking to gain some college survival skills. It will help you develop techniques for managing your time, studying, taking tests, setting educational and career goals, and using Valencia resources.

Tutoring and Academic Help

Free tutoring services are available for all subject areas. With group and one-on-one tutoring options, you can get the academic assistance you need, no matter your learning style. Math, reading and writing support is available on all campuses, while offerings for other subjects vary from campus to campus.

Career Centers

Located on each campus, the Career Centers are available to assist you with making career decisions, setting career goals, writing résumés and cover letters, and interviewing techniques. We also offer assessments, internship opportunities, recruitment fairs and job-search tools to help you explore your options.

Libraries

Valencia has a library on each campus, offering a wide variety of educational resources – from books and periodicals to eBooks, CDs and videos. The libraries also provide computer workstations for accessing the Internet and over 140 online databases. Librarians and other qualified staff are available to help you with research, reference documentation, interlibrary loans, and learning technologies.

Online Resources

In addition to free Wi-Fi and campus computer labs, Valencia offers a host of online services through Atlas, our online learning community. Each student receives their own Atlas account where they can check email, register for classes, access admissions and financial aid records, and connect to educational and career planning resources.

Advising Services

Academic advisors and counselors are available to assist with career and educational planning, academic and personal challenges, transferring to a university and more. Current Valencia students can get help on a walk-in basis at any Student Services office. In addition, A.S. and A.A.S. students will be assigned to a Career Program Advisor who can provide program-specific academic advising.

Through the SAGE Office (Study Abroad Global Experience), the foundation offers scholarships for study abroad opportunities. Here are two thank-you’s from students who recently traveled to China:

“I would like to thank the SAGE program for additional financial support provided for my study abroad class to China. The trip was very educational and gave me a new perspective on how business is conducted in foreign countries. It has inspired me to start looking into employment opportunities abroad. I cannot express how thankful I am for everything.” –Erich

“I want to thank you for awarding me a one thousand dollar scholarship. Because of your kind courtesy, I was able to travel to China by airfare and stay two weeks in two amazing cities, Beijing and Shanghai. I will definitely recommend this scholarship program to anyone who needs financial assistance in their hope to study abroad.

Over my stay in China, I got to visit some remarkable sites! The Great Wall of China, that being my favorite site, was absolutely incredible! The view of the gorgeous mountains and never-ending wall was exhilarating to see! I also visited The Temple of Heaven, The Forbidden City, Fengjing Ancient Town, Yonghe Gong (Buddist temple), Huangpu River, etc.

I learned a lot about Chinese culture and their ways of doing business thanks to the guest speakers, lectures and historical sites visited. China has taught me to be a holistic thinker and more appreciative of life. We can’t focus our attention on one thing, we have to look at the whole picture.” –Sasha

Ana De La Rosa graduated from Valencia in the spring of 2008. While at Valencia she participated in an alternative spring break program with Habitat for Humanity, served as an active member of Amnesty International and completed the Introduction to Peace Studies course.

Ana is currently in Peru with the Peace Corps and writes about recent experience to her Professor Penny Villegas …

“It has been a little while since I have written and felt like it was time to share. This last week I had the opportunity to go on one of the most amazing and rewarding trips of my life. I live in the northern coast of Peru, where it is hot and poor and most other volunteers live in the Andes and middle of Peru where it is cold and poor. The highest reported number of new HIV and AIDS cases is not only on the coast but in my actual district.

We have five high schools we work with in the area and we train young health promoters to teach their peers about the realities of HIV, AIDS, Dengue, and Malaria. The program has been running successfully on the coast for going on 6 years so the rest of the country is trying to adapt the peer to peer education model. Another volunteer and I had the opportunity to take one health promoter from each school, two teachers and a school principal to Ancash, Peru. It is two bus rides and 22 hours away from us. Before my service two volunteers had brought a group of the kids from Ancash to Tumbes and so now it was our turn to pay them a visit. The trip was covered by PEPFAR- the U.S. President’s AIDS fund-since our youth went there with teaching modules, skits and ideas for the new up and coming peer educators in the Sierra. These kids had never left home for more than a day trip to the beach- let alone seen snow. It was wonderful sharing this 7-day experience with them. They got to go to museums and stand at the base of the biggest mountain in Peru.

They did a live television interview talking about the importance of sex education and helped train the kids from Ancash. It was a great exchange of culture and knowledge and I am so lucky to have been a part of it. I have a classroom in Minnesota I am pen-pals with and I cannot wait to send them pictures from this trip. The cultural exchange possibilities go on and on!

Ana de la Rosa Valencia 2008

About the Peace Corp in Peru: Volunteers in this South American nation work in the areas of youth and community development, environmental and agricultural conservation, health, water sanitation and hygiene promotion, and business development. Many Volunteers working on HIV/AIDS prevention and care receive support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. Volunteers are trained and work in Quechua and Spanish.

Valencia will, for the first time, offer bachelor’s degree programs starting in Fall 2011. Students on a specific career track can transfer into programs that lead to:

Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology

Concentrations in computer systems, electrical/electronic systems and lasers and photonics.

Valencia College, Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering program was developed in partnership with local engineering professionals and incorporates the same state-of-the-art equipment found in the research and development departments of major companies. That way, you’ll be prepared to meet both industry demands and employer expectations by the time you graduate. And with small class sizes of only about 22 people, you’ll get the same individual instruction and support that students have come to expect from Valencia.

Valencia College, Bachelor of Science in Radiological Imaging Sciences program is accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT), Valencia’s bachelor’s program is designed to help you meet industry demands and employer expectations. Thanks to our partnerships with local healthcare providers, this program was designed to meet the local workforce needs and can provide placement for you to conduct your practicum. In addition, this program is especially ideal for working professionals, since all courses, except for the practicum, are offered online

Steve Cunningham, professor of English as a Second Language for Academic Purposes (EAP) at Valencia College’s Osceola Campus, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach in Russia during the 2011-2012 academic year, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Cunningham will be teaching at the Humanities and Technology Institute, a branch of Orenburg State University, in the city of Orsk. His three-month trip will be focused on training current and future high school English teachers in Russia how to best incorporate educational technology into their English language instruction.

While this will be his first trip to Russia, Cunningham is no stranger to teaching English to non-native speakers. In his 26 years as an educator, he has worked as an English as a Second Language instructor, intensive English program coordinator, international programs director, curriculum designer, and has conducted teacher training at Valencia and other colleges both in the U.S. and abroad.

Cunningham is one of approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2011-2012.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.

Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given approximately 300,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.